D&D (2024) Not a fan of the new Eldritch Knight

[TaranTheWanderer]

I've been working on an EK for a heist game. We're doing a weekend of D&D among high school friends where we play for 18 hours a day for an entire weekend. Our characters are starting at 4th and I don't foresee us going much past 6th but, in any case, I get to test out the class.

As much as I tried to go with an INT based EK, we don't have a face and I didn't want to dump dex so, in the end, my Int just kept getting lower and lower. Not wanting to dump anything, I had all 'dump stats' (STR, INT, WIS) at 10. DEX, CON at 14(after stat boosts) and Cha at 18. I was influenced by @ECMO3 saying they didn't want to be forced into one weapon type so, eventually, dex went down and INT went Waaay down. str went up. This is what I ended up with:

base stats:
S 13(14); D 12; C14; I 8; W10; C 15(18)

Human: magic initiate, (charisma druid) - Shillelagh, Starry Wisp(ranged cantrip - this looks pretty good instead of True Strike), Healing word (I really waffled on a combat spell but ice knife is kind of crap and thunderwave is too loud in most situations but in a non-heist game, Thunderwave is probably the way to go)

Origin: Noble (+2 cha, +1 STR) stealth, skilled feat for more sneaky stuff

Lvl 4 Fae-touched +1 CHA, Misty step, Hex

EK spells: find familiar, and the usual stuff like shield etc...booming blade(I guess this makes lots of noise too so I dunno but GFB is kind of not good until 5th)

You could dump Wis too to push S to 15 and, take polarm master at 6th to boost to 16 Str. Or push Dex to 14. But was unwilling to push WIS that low.

Tactics: not sure yet. I took dueling with a staff(topple) and shield to be tanky. Could go heavy club and great weapon fighting and take booming blade and push to push enemies back and force them to move. Or two weapon fighting with Dagger (nick). Hopefully I'll get a chance to try all three.

Thoughts? comments?

Edit: with the new rules, it's pretty easy to make an INT maxed PC and start with 18 int. It just doesn't synergize well with skills or any other part of the game. Unless you are going as a sage with maxed arcana, History, religion - like, the typical smarty-pants But then you have to dump wisdom or charisma.

 

[Tawek21]

You've thought about it more. I'm looking at faerie fire or absorb elements.

Also watched d4s EK shillelagh build video. Think I want hex at 4th though ymmv.

I pruned my post a bit, so I didn't include all the spells and I didn't include options after level 11.

I definitely agree on absorb elements as one of the wizard spells (it's not in 2024 rules so far, but I think most tables would allow it).

I picked Healing Word because being able to bring the healer back if they go down is incredibly useful. Another useful option might be Goodberry, if no one in the party has it. One of the great improvements of 2024 is that we can change magic initiate spells each time we level, so I can steadily change the two level 1 spells and 4 cantrips from magic initiate.

For me, the key thing about this build is fun. Fighters that just hit things could get a bit samey. But with the spells EK gets and the extra spells and cantrips in this build, there should be a fair bit of variety - and a chance to try out new combos that might surprise the party.

With that in mind, your choice of faerie fire may be better. A lot of players don't use faerie Fire but it's a great spell. Having it as an option might be the most fun.

But I think the most fun will come at level 10. At that level, the full casters may casting fifth level spells, but is a a fifth level spell necessarily better than a second level save or suck spell with disadvantage on the save?

For the fun of variety, I think I'd swap around the save or suck spell each level (eg suggestion, hold person, phantasmal force or levitate, with Tasha's Hideous Laughter or sleep if a first level spell is preferable).
To be honest, I'm a big fan of the cleric spell command, but I couldn't see a way to fit it into the build.

 

[clearstream]

EK spells: find familiar, and the usual stuff like shield etc...booming blade(I guess this makes lots of noise too so I dunno but GFB is kind of not good until 5th)

Booming blade? In this economy?*


*I don't see it in the 2024 spell lists.

 

[Tawek21]

I'm not convinced on wrathful smite. You lack apell slots so long duration stuff is more appealing vs 1d6--3d6 danage.

On Fae Wanderer it's a bit different.

I like Wrathful Smite on a tough melee enemy with a low wis save. If they can't break the frightened condition, their attacks are at disadvantage for a minute.
If your party can push them away, they can't then approach you, so unless they have viable ranged options, they might be out of the battle for a while. Not bad for a first level spell.

But only worth it on certain enemies.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Booming blade? In this economy?*


*I don't see it in the 2024 spell lists.

I have no idea what’s in the current version. It was available when I was making the character on D&D beyond. Do you have another suggestion? Honestly I’ve never seen it as being that great because of the whole needing to move thing but lots of people rave about it

 

[pukunui]

I've been working on an EK for a heist game. We're doing a weekend of D&D among high school friends where we play for 18 hours a day for an entire weekend. Our characters are starting at 4th and I don't foresee us going much past 6th but, in any case, I get to test out the class.

As much as I tried to go with an INT based EK, we don't have a face and I didn't want to dump dex so, in the end, my Int just kept getting lower and lower. Not wanting to dump anything, I had all 'dump stats' (STR, INT, WIS) at 10. DEX, CON at 14(after stat boosts) and Cha at 18. I was influenced by @ECMO3 saying they didn't want to be forced into one weapon type so, eventually, dex went down and INT went Waaay down. str went up. This is what I ended up with:

base stats:
S 13(14); D 12; C14; I 8; W10; C 15(18)

Human: magic initiate, (charisma druid) - Shillelagh, Starry Wisp(ranged cantrip - this looks pretty good instead of True Strike), Healing word (I really waffled on a combat spell but ice knife is kind of crap and thunderwave is too loud in most situations but in a non-heist game, Thunderwave is probably the way to go)

Origin: Noble (+2 cha, +1 STR) stealth, skilled feat for more sneaky stuff

Lvl 4 Fae-touched +1 CHA, Misty step, Hex

EK spells: find familiar, and the usual stuff like shield etc...booming blade(I guess this makes lots of noise too so I dunno but GFB is kind of not good until 5th)

You could dump Wis too to push S to 15 and, take polarm master at 6th to boost to 16 Str. Or push Dex to 14. But was unwilling to push WIS that low.

Tactics: not sure yet. I took dueling with a staff(topple) and shield to be tanky. Could go heavy club and great weapon fighting and take booming blade and push to push enemies back and force them to move. Or two weapon fighting with Dagger (nick). Hopefully I'll get a chance to try all three.

Thoughts? comments?

Edit: with the new rules, it's pretty easy to make an INT maxed PC and start with 18 int. It just doesn't synergize well with skills or any other part of the game. Unless you are going as a sage with maxed arcana, History, religion - like, the typical smarty-pants But then you have to dump wisdom or charisma.

My only comment is that without the War Caster feat, you won’t be able to cast shield if you’ve got a weapon in one hand and a physical shield in the other.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

My only comment is that without the War Caster feat, you won’t be able to cast shield if you’ve got a weapon in one hand and a physical shield in the other.

Staff is an arcane focus.

Edit oh, it’s the somatic component. Hmmmm

 

[pukunui]

Staff is an arcane focus.

An arcane focus can only be used to replace a material component (or material plus somatic). Shield only has a somatic component, so you need a free hand.

 

[FrogReaver]

An arcane focus can only be used to replace a material component (or material plus somatic). Shield only has a somatic component, so you need a free hand.

Is that still the case in 2024?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Is that still the case in 2024?

Reading the free rules, it's not entirely clear:

A spellcaster must use at least one of their hands to perform these movements.

It doesn't actually specify the hand must be empty, nor is there anything about using a spellcasting focus for somatic components.